#ideafreaks are #musicgeeks

Silversun Pickups - The Pit There are obvious Cure references...

Tue, 29 May 2012 09:32:38 -0700

Silversun Pickups - The Pit

There are obvious Cure references here and a pretty forward-leaning pace for these LA beach rockers on their 3rd full-length release, which I have to admit is a lot of the same (but that’s not really a bad thing). This band’s found a unique space in between The Smashing Pumpkins and Kill Hannah and I sort of don’t get how they’re so big, but I also get that their music probably only works if you blast it and feel like rocking out. That’s a good foundation for big rock shows, which is what these guys seems to be pulling off lately.

// http://soundcloud.com/silversunpickups/the-pit

The Hood Internet - The Mixtape Volume Six It’s Memorial...

Mon, 28 May 2012 09:41:28 -0700

The Hood Internet - The Mixtape Volume Six

It’s Memorial Day and it’s hot in Chicago; nothing fits those conditions quite like The Hood Internet and a patio hang. Hope that’s what all you great people are doing today, and today’s post is a little off the norm to fuel a full afternoon of bangin’ tunes for your sunny day. Enjoy an entire mixtape from Chicago’s favorite producers - just push play and let them DJ your afternoon!

// http://www.thehoodinternet.com/

Dante - Won’t Go Another day, another great musician from...

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:19:26 -0700

Dante - Won’t Go

Another day, another great musician from Sweden. This time Dante’s covering our girl Adele in a pseudo-cover that I’m really digging. It’s a few months old, but it’s a good intro into the world of Dante, who’s channeling Erykah Badu and Peter Gabriel and other such crooners.

// http://soundcloud.com/dantekinnunen/dante-wont-go

The Dig - I Already Forgot Everything You Said Love the backbeat...

Thu, 24 May 2012 09:38:23 -0700

The Dig - I Already Forgot Everything You Said

Love the backbeat here; this song’s all summer all the time. First time I heard it I thought it was Angus Stone, but it’s not…this is a trio from NYC that’s been making waves all year. They’re still playing small venues, but have a little bit of that The xx thing going on, which could mean this is your last chance to catch them up close. Enjoy.

// http://soundcloud.com/thedig/ialreadyforgoteverythingyousaid

Alea Minerva - Tomorrow I stumbled onto Arron McIntyre aka Alea...

Mon, 21 May 2012 13:55:27 -0700

Alea Minerva - Tomorrow

I stumbled onto Arron McIntyre aka Alea Minvera recently and find myself totally immersed in his compositions. They’re just gorgeous. Epic and unpredictable. He released maybe in February, an album you can grab on his website or listen to in full here. Seems he’s working on another release which I now eagerly anticipating.

// http://www.aleaminerva.com/

// http://soundcloud.com/aleaminerva/sets/maybe/

Kill Paris - Shades of Funk This is what you should be doing...

Fri, 18 May 2012 09:12:35 -0700

Kill Paris - Shades of Funk

This is what you should be doing tonight - funking out. Corey Taylor’s been throwing great mixes up for free download for a bit now but this one’s definitely a favorite. Samples include Breakbot- Shades of Black, Luke Bond Feat Mark Frisch- The Other Side, and Phil Collins- In The Air Tonight. Bam.

// http://soundcloud.com/killparis/kill-paris-shades-of-funk-free

Ghost Beach - Miracle I’m a huge Ghost Beach fan, and...

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:46:29 -0700

Ghost Beach - Miracle

I’m a huge Ghost Beach fan, and they’re still coming strong. I shared First Time, an epic tune and back then I mentioned they’d promised to share a free tune each month. Here we are with another free download from this NY duo to rock your summer speakers.

// http://www.ghostbeachmusic.com/ [grab it free!]

Icona Pop - I Love It Loud Swedish pop music is pretty much...

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:32:54 -0700

Icona Pop - I Love It

Loud Swedish pop music is pretty much dominant as a music genre. I have to get to Sweden at some point, because the music coming out of that part of the world is just FUN and AGGRESSIVE. Welcome to the summer of European pop music taking over.

// http://soundcloud.com/frenchysymphony/icona-pop-i-love-it

Heather Russell and James Russell - “I Can’t Call...

Mon, 14 May 2012 20:31:48 -0700

Heather Russell and James Russell - “I Can’t Call Your Name”

Watch all this girl’s videos…many are from more than three years ago and this girl’s natural talent is pretty astounding. Took me but a minute to turn up recent news that Simon Cowell’s signed a deal with her, which means that you have about a minute to enjoy Heather before she’s packaged into something that resembled Justin Beiber.

Look at how hard she rocks this song though! The girl sings with every cell in her body. Wow.

Emma Louise - Boy This sultry chica from Brisbane’s been...

Fri, 11 May 2012 15:06:00 -0700

Emma Louise - Boy

This sultry chica from Brisbane’s been making waves ever since her release of a tune called Jungle, but this track’s kicking that buzz into high gear. Emma just came through North America for SXSW and is set to release her debut album later this year.

// http://soundcloud.com/muchobravado/emma-louise-boy

CocoRosie - We Are On Fire I’ve shared a few CocoRosie...

Mon, 07 May 2012 18:11:02 -0700

CocoRosie - We Are On Fire

I’ve shared a few CocoRosie tracks before and always like seeing what they’re up to…sisters who found each other after years apart and proceeded to win over the indie music scene have an inherent interest factor, no? This is a release produced by David Sitek from TV On The Radio, and it borders on trip-hop, which works pretty well, honestly. This will accompany a b-side on a single release in a few weeks. Enjoy!

// http://soundcloud.com/forcefieldpr/cocorosie-we-are-on-fire

Ray Lamontagne & Damien Rice - To Love Somebody (live) This...

Fri, 04 May 2012 18:31:31 -0700

Ray Lamontagne & Damien Rice - To Love Somebody (live)

This happened five years ago but I just saw it for the first time and it’s gorgeous. So there you have it.

ht/ @michd10

Metric - Youth Without Youth Big fan of Metric, who’s got...

Thu, 03 May 2012 18:31:55 -0700

Metric - Youth Without Youth

Big fan of Metric, who’s got an album on deck for next month. This is the first track we’re getting from this Canadian band and it’s got me excited for the full release. They’ve apparently been teasing fans with clues about the track for a few weeks, and this will be their fifth album to date. Fun fact: Lead singer Emily Haines and guitarist James Shaw also perform in indie supergroup Broken Social Scene.

// http://soundcloud.com/metric-band/youth-without-youth

// http://ilovemetric.com/

Kid CuDi - Dennis, Hook Me Up With Some More Of That...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:00:15 -0700

Kid CuDi - Dennis, Hook Me Up With Some More Of That Whiskey

Apparently this release last week came from KuDi himself and sees him join in on production. It also features his old track “Ghost” in reverse with some new drums and guitar. Add on top of that some words from Obama and British sci-fi comedy Attack the Block and you’ve got yourself a sufficiently weird and unpredictable tune from our man.

// [download]

Deb “Spoons” Perry - Lonely Boy (Black Keys Cover) I...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:59:00 -0700

Deb “Spoons” Perry - Lonely Boy (Black Keys Cover)

I contemplated not writing anything here because after watching this, I don’t have anything to say that even comes close to how awesome watching it again will be. She rates the experience of spoon-rocking this song at an 8.5/10, but witnessing it is an 11/10.

BLUEfiveone - Paint The City Blue Interesting tune from a...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:37:00 -0700

BLUEfiveone - Paint The City Blue

Interesting tune from a relative unknown. This guy is from Virginia and mixes a nice blend of rock and hip hop here. Kind of alt-hip-hop-rock going on and it’s a tough sound to pull off, so kudos to him for getting pretty damn close.

// https://twitter.com/#!/bluefiveone

Purity Ring - Obedear Okay, so this song hit the web like 12...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:38:32 -0700

Purity Ring - Obedear

Okay, so this song hit the web like 12 hours ago and it’s been posted on nearly every music blog on the internet. It’s at the top of Hypem and 40+ of the indexed blogs have shared it TODAY. This duo from Halifax embodies the craze that the buzz brigade can dive into sometimes; they’ve got all the ingredients. Their album, due in three months, is already likely the most anticipated of 2012. Enjoy!

// http://thepurityring.tumblr.com/

Deadmau5 - The Veldt (ft. Chris James - Radio Edit) I’ve...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:35:34 -0700

Deadmau5 - The Veldt (ft. Chris James - Radio Edit)

I’ve been retelling this story over and over again but if you haven’t heard it, a final version of this song is finally here and it’s beautiful.

The story: Deadmau5, a music titan constantly pushing boundaries, recently overhauled his studio to make an EP in 22 hours while live streaming every minute of the process for his fans. He put together a track called The Veldt, inspired by Ray Bradbury’s short story of the same name. He put it on Soundcloud (a clip just over 1 minute) as an unfinished sample and people began remixing it, sending him links on Twitter. He often ignores remixes from people he doesn’t recognize…the guy’s got 1M+ twitter followers for christ’s sake.

One kept popping up, with lyrics laid on top of his instrumental from a no-name named Chris James…it blew Deadmau5 away (listen to it here; it’s amazing) and they were on the phone minutes later (live, streaming in front of thousands of amazed fans) . You have to see how fast and real this happened for yourself to believe it…the best part is the first time the two talk at about 5 minutes into this video recording of that live stream.

Linked above is the radio edit version of the track (now 8+ minutes), which without the story is beautiful, but with it is a piece of art that just couldn’t have happened any other way.

From Deadmau5’s blog post after this all went down:

he had posted a link claiming he did a vocal to the track ive uploaded on soundclud, ill be honest, i *do* check demos out from time to time… but not nearly as often as they come in… for whatever reason, i took a shot and checked it out… i was fucking nearly in tears. Not because i think he’s the best singer in the world… but because HE FUCKING GOT IT. TOTALLY and COMPLETELY got it.

i had previously stated on the demo that the song was loosely connected to the short story i read… the kid went and read the story, and did what i did. His verses are connected to me in that way, this track is pure.”

Tayyib Ali - Ride With Us (ft. Cisco Adler) Early morning hip...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:30:37 -0700

Tayyib Ali - Ride With Us (ft. Cisco Adler)

Early morning hip hop. That’s the way I’ve seen Cisco Adler described, and this song’s a good fit on that. It’s just pleasant. It’s hot. It’s summertime in Santa Cruz and skateboards and spleefs. This is the first time I’ve heard of Tayyib Ali but it appears I’m late to that bandwagon, so if you haven’t heard, NOW YA HEARD.

// http://www.tayyibali.com/

Crystal Fighters - Earth Island Going about my ways...

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:53:42 -0700

Crystal Fighters - Earth Island

Going about my ways happily.

It’s funny how some songs nail the first few notes so hard that you know you’re gonna love it right away. You start searching the internet for a download before you’re three bars into the song, and as the song builds you’re already trying to figure out what you’re going to say when you share it on your music blog. All you figure out is “this band kicks ass so hard”.

// http://soundcloud.com/crystalfighters/earth-island